Rowdy (by Pirate) Three handed casting

[Daren Galloway]

ok that might help i will try that just putting two to the right and left... once he gets it down pat i will add more and move to three... i am also in the middle of FF and some nights he does great and others he just has mental break downs and wont fetch/hold anything. I found the more i give him positive praise and over praise him durring force fetch(only when he actualy fetches on command correctly) he shows a huge intress and 100% better then if i just give the commands. He started to pick the bumper up off the ground yesterday and had a solid day of FF so i will see how it goes today.... hes only 6 months old but a retrieving machine...

Why are you doing 3 handed casting in the middle of FF? FF builds directly into 3 handed casting because you just taught the dog a command to pick up the bumper.

[ada5771]

I am just trying to get him use to some simple casting as field work... he does not have any problems fetching or retrieving bumpers in a pile or in the field... i am FF him to get a little more Drive out of him. should i not be doing any field work with him durring the FF process?

[Daren Galloway]

Most people dont do anything during ff except some obedience before or after a session or a fun bumper if your dog gets down. Ff makes it a command not just what he wants to do. If you get a refusal for whatever reason with a ff'ed dog yiu have a command to make him pick it up. Without you have no tools to get the response

[Wayne Nutt]

You should stick with Lardy's flow chart. I keep up the field work during ff. However, if he is getting sloppy with the bumper duing field work, then stop until you have completed ff.

[ada5771]

Thanks i was just doing it as a fun drill for yard work durring the day because i do not FF him for long at night...I will just stick to Obedience and FF... just curious how manny sessions of FF does it normally take to get a dog fully FF into walking fetch? I know every Dog is different but i am just curious what would be a good average?? 1 week 2 weeks month?

[Wayne Nutt]

Here are the major milestones with Rowdy.

Started force hold on table 9/12/12
Completed force hold on ground 9/19/12
Started force fetch on table 10/1/12
Completed ff on table and started force fetch on ground at end of session 10/4/12
Started walking ff 10/5/12
Completete walking ff 10/12/12 (the last two days I introduced dokkens, BB bumpers, etc)
Started stick fetch 10/15/12
Completed stick fetch 10/16/12

I had a gap between completing force hold and starting force fetch. I was waiting for him to get to be seven months old and maturing a little bit more. Just judgement on my part.

The time for Rowdy was about 24 days (elasped time a month and four days) but I would say that he was an exception rather than the rule. For instance only four days of ff on the table is rare.

I would think six weeks would be the average I have experienced for the above but some have taken much longer.

[ada5771]

Thanks wayne as i said Zeus is doing good with FF so far but once i move the Bumper towards the ground i see break downs.... i have not pushed him to pick up from the ground yet.. once i see he has trouble with a low one i come up a little bit... he has a good grasp on hold 1:30 holds at a time...but i see one of his big hills he will have to over come is the fetch the bumper on the ground...

[Doug Burt]

Thanks Wayne for posting your video and milestones. Your help is always greatly appreciated!

[ada5771]

Wayne... Had a awsome FF session with zeus last night and this morning he finaly began to pick it up off the ground last night and continued to do so this morning. How manny more sessions should i go before walking fetch?

[Wayne Nutt]

Next session, tomorrow.